OWN SCfIRECRDW^ MRS. HART, OF HOLDEN, ME., FALLS UNDER SPELL OF FRANKENSTEIN. WOMAN FEARS OWN CREATION Had Often Threatened to Dismantle Figure Which Gradually Assumed Nature of a Ghost—Hopes He Will Freeze. Holden, Me. —Copeland hill, in tho western part of Holden, is tho highest point of land in southern Penobscot county, and, owing to its commanding position, residents of Bangor drive to the top of the eminence on clear days for the purpose of seeing Mt. Katahdin, j 90 miles to the north; Camden hills, ! (30 miles south, and the mountains | back of Bar Harbor, 70 miles to the | southeast. The farm of Charles Hart occupies the very top of the hill, and Franken stein is the most important personage on the entire farm. Members of the Hart family say that Frankenstein has been photo graphed more than 500 times since last May, when he was dressed up and placed out to keep watch over a patch of early peas on a rocky knoll. By the time tlie peas were big enough to sell in the pod, Frankenstein wa9 moved to the family strawberry field, and from there he went to another part of the field to stand guard over a' potato field, coming back later to perform police duty among some early green corn. By this time the second crop of green peas was coming on and Frankenstein was moved again, shifting from the pea patch to act as guardian for a field of stocked corn, and ending up his season's work as custodian over a field of third-crop peas. He has been on duty day and night from tho middle of May to tho middle of October. He has worked without sleep and without food and without pay. The English sparrows have come and built nests in his pockets. The summer visitors have come and called j him "cunning," and photographed him J from many sides and in many condi tions of weather, and Frankenstein j has not minded his notoriety in the j least. Mrs. Charles Hart, the widow of the j man who owned the farm where ! It Grew Into the Nature of a Ghost. Frankenstein abodes, is responsible for the origin of Frankenstein and his name. She constructed him from soma brilliant and threadbare garments that were about the house and then placed a mask over his face to prevent him from "tanning," as she declared. Having created the image for the purpose of scaring the crows away, the creation looked so uncanny and stupid that Mrs. Hart grew afraid of him, and though she cften threatened to dismantle her creation, she grad ually fell under the spell of the ob session and permitted the object of liar fear to remain on earth until it grew into the nature of a ghost. Be ing an intelligent woman who had read many books, Mrs. Hart named the image Frankenstein. She proposes to let Frankenstein re main out in the cold field all winter, hoping thereby to freeze the "scare" out of him. Cow Gets on a Jag. South Norwalk, Conn.—Joseph Ball's cow, usually a kindly and docile creature, got into his orchard and gorged on cider apples, which strewed the autumn dying grass. The apple juice must have ferment ed 1? thw cow's midst, for when Ball tried to drive her from the orchard she pursued him and butted his back so hard that she injured his spinal cord. Ball was taken to the Norwalk hospital suffering from paralysis of the lower limbs. After cavorting around for an hour, the cow recovered her accustomed sobriety. How They Know. Labels in hats and tags on over coats, showing the sellers of these ar ticles; »ee of some value. Waiters in New Tork restaurants always glance at these indices so as to the social standing and proWable liberality of their customers. The service is ac cording to their conclusion. DUEL WITH SWORDS FOR WIDOW'S SMILES PARLOR OF INDIANA HOME SCENE OF DESPERATE COMBAT BE TWEEN JEALOUS SWAINS. I.awrenceburg, Ind. —For tho love of a "ladye fayre" Charles W. Bennett and Otis H. Gooden fought a duel with swords. It was not a prearranged affair, however, and the only second rushed into the battle with a chair, floored one of the combatants and end ed hostilities. The. duel took place at the house of George \V. Guard, where Mrs. Minnie Hess Cooper, a comely grass widow, is a boarder. Bennett called to spend the evening with her. Gooden, an other admirer, arrived shortly after ward, and a quarrel soon arose. Hang ing on the wall in the parlor of tire Bennett Was Proving a Poor Fencer. house were two sabers, that had been used during the civil war by Mr. Guard's grandfather. Just how they came into use is not known, but the commotion in the parlor and the screams of Mrs. Coop er attracted the attention of Guard, who had retired. He dressed and rushed into the room and found the two men dueling with the sabers. Bennett was proving a poor fencer and was getting by far the worst of the fight. He was bleeding profusely from cuts and slashes, and just as Guard entered he fell on the floor, covered with blood. Gooden was in the act of running tho saber through his fallen opponent when Guard interfered and felled him to the floor with a heavy chair. The widow rushed into the street crying for help, and a policeman arrived, and after a struggle with Gooden, com pelled him to surrender at the muz zle of a revolver. He was taken to Jail and a charge of cutting with in tent to kill placed opposite his name. Dr. George F. Smith was summoned and dressed the injuries of Bennett. There was one serious stab in his ab domen, which requited eight stitches to close. Bennett is in a serious con dition, but will recover unless blood poison develops. Mrs. Couper states that she will not countenance either man in the future. CHINAMAN KIDNAPS TEACHER. Pupil in Sunday School Class Drugs Wealthy Married Woman. Pittsburg. Pa.—Under the influence of some powerful drug, Mrs. W. L. Reese, wife of a wealthy boiler manufacturer of Altoona, was picked up by the police the other morning in company with A 1 Sing Dean, a Chinaman, who had been a member of her Sunday school class and who had kidnaped her. Mrs. Reeso and her mother were at luncheon at their home the day before when Dean called. While Mrs. Reese's mother was answering the telephone Dean turned the conversation to the subject of opium and told her that the reports that the Chinese were opium fiends was outrageously false. He said that the Americans mistook for opium some little crystals which the Chinese frequently took as an appe tizer. He offered Mrs. Reese one of the crystals. At first she hesitated, but when she saw the Chinaman appar ently swallow one she did likewise. Mrs. Reese remembers but little of what happened after that. It is believed that Dean wanted to hold her for ransom. Girls Wore Trousers. Collinsville, Conn.—The Skidoo Young Ladies' club was broken up by several envious boys. The girls have an annual meeting which they attend in male attire, their trousers covered by long wraps. One night tho boys invaded their dressing room in their absence and carried off all their wraps, leaving the girls to walk home in men's clothing, while dark lant»rns were flashed on them and a crowd cheered as they passed. Corpse's Pipe Saves Widow. Pottsville, Pa. —That the body of John Yacht was exhumed in order that his wife might be sure she was a uidow was testified before Judge Bechtel in a case iu which Mr. Yacht prosecuted Simon Prolt for his failure to keep his promise to wed her. The identification was established by a pipe found in the corpse's pocket. On the strength of this identifica tion the widow won her suit, as she would have had no case unless s&e could prove her husband was dead. WOMAN LID I YEARS AS A MM DOUBLE LIFE OF OCTOGENARIAN IS BARED AT HER DEATH IN COLORADO. MARRIED ONE OF HER OWN SEX Bears Burden of "Father" to Shield Girl Who Had Been Wronged— Worked as a Cook on a Ranch for Several Years. Trinidad, Colo. —Katherine Vos baugh, an eccentric Frenchwoman of brilliant attainments, died here the other day at the age of s;:. after mas querading for CO years as a man. The woman donned trousers when a girl and had a horror of skirts up to the time of her death. She filled a score of responsible positions, and her true sex was never suspected. Just twice during her entire life was the fact that Katherine Vosbaugh was a woman made known. The first time was when, at 30 years of age. she re vealed it to the young woman she mar ried in St. Joseph, Mo. The next and last time when she was con vinced she was dying, and was com pelled to inform the hospital physician. During her long life she had been a bank clerk, a sheep herder, a book keeper, a restaurant-keeper and a mining camp cook. Although she spoke several languages and had been brought up in refinement, she seemed never so happy as when she was clad in rough overalls and heavy shoes, doing the most laborious work. She wandered all over the world, and although often compelled to asso ciate with the roughest men, she was never suspected of being a woman, and on more than one occasion proved herself more of a manly man than her associates. She came to America in 1842 at the age of 18, shortly after her father's death. She decided that she could make her way as a man, but not as a woman. She donned trousers and settled in Joplin, Mo., as a book keeper. For nine years she remained in Jop lin and was esteemed a fine young Miss Vosbaugh as Camp Cook. man and one whom more than one young woman considered a most eligi ble partner. Her excellent record, ed ucation and steadiness procured her a position as clerk at a St. Joseph bank. It was shortly after she accept ed this position that she learned of the trouble of the young woman Whom she afterward married. When Miss Vosbaugh's "wife's" baby was born the oddly attached people removed to Trinidad and opened up a French restaurant. The town people thought them a model couple. The baby died a few months later. Shortly after the mother dis appeared, and the "husband" refused to make a search for her. The people of Trinidad were profuse in their ex pressions of sympathy for the deserted "man." Forty years ago Miss Vosbaugh ob tained employment at the Sam Brown ranch, near Trinchera, as n sheep herder. Later when she saw that her sex could not be discovered except through unusual accident, she accept ed work as a camp cook, and re mained in that capacity up to two years ago. Some of the roughest characters known to the west asso ciated with her without, ever suspect ing her sex. In many stirring scenes when men revealed fear and nervous ness she kept her poise. Two years ago her infirmities com pelled her removal to San Raphael hospital. Even then the men of the camp bade her good-bye affectionately as "Grandpa" and "Old Man Frenchy." For many weeks she refused to bathe unless she could do so without at tendants being present, to the great amusement of the sisters, who joked about the old man's overmodesty. Shortly after she was seized with a severe cold, which led to the physi cian's examination laying bare her life secret. When her sex was revealed the hos pital authorities at first insisted that she wear the proper garb of her sex. The garments proved so irksome 4o her, However, that ene was finally permitted to return to overalls. She pottered around the hospital working for the sisters up to the time of her death. BROTHERS ROB AND KILL AT SET PRICE SAID TC BE HEAD OF PARIS "SYN DICATE" MAKING MURDER ITS FAVORITE LINE. Paris.—A crime syndicate, organ ized for theft and murder, is the ab sorbing story of the day that startles France and all Europe. New details are coming to notice of the criminal operations of the broth ers Antony and Francois Thomas. These two men seem to have com bined the minds of Borgias, the leader of the inquisition, and the robber bar ons. They poisoned, tortured and stole for years, undetected, until, be coming bold beyond fear of detection, apparently, their carelessness ended in arrest. For years continental churches have lost priceless treasures mysteriously. t® I Hu JUI A 4 / Many Unknown Poisons Found. Jeweled crosses, chalices, statues, pic tures and tapestries from the hands of the greatest masters have disap peared in a night. So widely separated were the thefts that they were laid to local criminals. No one dreamed of a crime syndi cate. The Thomases comprised its work ing part, stealing hundreds of thou sands of dollars' worth of plunder and finding a ready market among dealers or private collectors. When apprehended the Thomas home was searched and evidence tend ing to prove tbat the brothers con ducted a private assassination and criminal operation bureau as a side line was unearthed. Apparently some of the foremost men of their home town and neighboring district were among their customers. The list of poisons found in the home contained many unknown to French chemists. Instruments, the character of which indicated the ne farious business for which they were intended, were discovered by the po lice. It is believed the brothers made it a business to "remove" undesirable persons from the path of those who were willing to pay liberally. When arrested they refused to discuss this, saying many of Europe's greatest fam ilies were implicated with them. Let ters compromising many throughout France were turned up. These showed that they received large sums for assassinations. The Thomases are known to have stolen the magnificent gem-studded rel iquary of Ambazac, valued at $40,000, and many other gems of middle-age art, including the crown of SL Mi chael. It is also charged that they engineered the Unsuccessful plot tt> rifle the abby of Conques, the treas ures of which are valued at s2<Xf,ooo. MOTHER FONDLES DEAD CHILD. Keeps Corpse in House a Week Till She Herself Dies. Paris. —An astounding example of country ignorance and stupidity has just come to light in the department of the Eure. In a commune called Callevllle, Georgette Yon, the daugh ter of a farmer, died »? the result of childbirth and a week later the father came to the mayor to make the customary declaration. The mayor was surprised that the announcement of the birth of the child had not been made. With perfect nonchalance the farmer replied that the child was born dead, and that to give pleasure to the mother he had kept the little corpse and it was going to be putin the mother's coffin. When the mayor said that the body must be in a state of putrefactio'h the farmer replied: "Oh, not very; dur ing the day its mother kept It and at night we put it in the fresh air." He went onto explain that at night the body was put on the window ledge and was returned to the mother in the morning. Chinaman's Poor Defense. Sue Moon, a Chinese, was brought before the Melbourne magistrate the other day charged with having worked after two o'clock on a Satur day afternoon, contrary to the provi sions of the local factories act. He pleaded that he had washed only one collar after the statutory closing time. "What! Only one collar from two to eight o'clock?" exclaimed the chair man. "Him welly dirty collar," re joined Sue Moon. This defense was deemed too thin and Sue was fined $2.50. After paying, he remarked: "Fackly act make Chinaman welly lazy fellow." OFF FDR MM WITH FEET BARE ITALIAN, FREED OF MURDER CHARGE, ATTEMPTS TO KEEP PECULIAR VOW. CHEERED EY HIS C3UNTRYMEN Passed 33 Months in Sing Sing Death House—Woman Upon Knees Re moves His Shoes Under Bridge of Sighs. New York.—Raffaele Cascone, an Italian, and Harry Thaw's friend in the Tombs, was released the other day upon his own recognizance by Judge Whitman, before whom he had been acquitted of the charge of mur der in the first degree. The first trial of Cascone had re sulted in his conviction and sentence to death. When the court of appeals granted him a new trial a year ago last August a reporter met Cascone at the entrance to the deathhouse in Sing Sing and in company with a deputy sheriff came with the accused man to this city. "If I am given my freedom, and I know that I will be acquitted because I am innocent," Cascone said to the re porter at the death house gate, "the first thing I shall do is to walk bare footed to my church in East One Hun dred and Sixteenth street, and there I will goon my knees and thank God for answering my prayer. I will burn the biggest candle I can get. My first visit will be to the church. My own home will not know me until after I have been to the church." Cascone had been confined four years and four months when ho was given his liberty by Judge Whitman. During 33 months of that time he had been in the death house and had seen 17 men taken from their cells to be put to death in the electric chair. Cascone went to the entrance to the criminal courthouse and stood for a few moments in silence under the Bridge of Sighs. A moment later he was surrounded by many of his coun trymen. They came in great numbers, and by the time Cascone was ready to start for the church there were nearly a thousand men and women on hand to cheer the released man. Cascone sent a friend to a store, and ten minutes later he returned carry ing a candle nine inches tall. Then Cascone started to take off his shoes. Just then a middle-aged woman el- Cascone Started His Walk. bowed her way through the throng and went on her knees before him. She untied his shoestrings and aided him in taking off his shoes and stock ings. Col. Bryant, of the office of James W. Osborne, counsel for Cascone, hap pened along. He pleaded with Cas cone not to walk to One Hundred and Sixteenth street. Policemen arrived and they had their trouble in keeping the mob in check. It was feared that some of Cascone's old enemies might step up and attempt violence. But Cas cone was determined to walk to the church in East One' Hundred and Six teenth street. "I told you," he said, "when I got out of Sing Sing that if I was acquit ted I would walk to Harlem barehead ed and barefooted. I am going to do that." Finally a policeman said that if he (Cascone) attempted to do as he sug gested he would arrest him for caus ing a crowd to assemble. It was after a good deal of persuasion that Cas cone finally entered a carriage and started for the church in Harlem. Burr Drops Into Boy's Mouth. Philadelphia. Harold Boyer, 14 years old, held his mouth open and a chestnut burr dropped into it. The burr stuck so tightly there that a phy sician had much work in removing it. Harold and several other small boys went chestnuting along the Wissahic kon. Young Boyer tossed a club among . the branches. Fearing that it might, in falling, strike one of his friends, he spread wide his jaws to yell a warning : and the burr dropped in. Killed by Bee Sting. [ Canton, S. D. —Stung on the tem ple by a common honey bee, Michael • Oakleaf died 15 minutes afterward in ; convulsions. Physicians gave it ai | their opinion that the sting penetrated \ the brain through the knitted part ol the skull. SUICIDE BLOWS SELF TO PIECES WITH DYNAMITE PI .ACES EXPLOSIVE UNDER EED THEN LIES DOWN AND LIGHTS THE FUSE. Pittsburg, Pa. —Calmly lying down on a bed at his home, John Lectak, aged 50, of Eno station, near Imperial, the other evening drew a comfort over him after lighting a fuse to a stick of dynamite, which he placed under the bed. Fifteen minutes later neighbors gathered up the fragments of Lectak and the furniture. The building was completely wrecked. Lectak was employed at 4 brick yard at Imperial, but it !s said he had been despondent recently after recovering from a lengthy spree. The man wait ed until other occupants of the house left and placed the dynamite under Placed the Dynamite Under the Bed and Lit the Fuse. the bed. Then he lay down to await certain death. It is said the man had told a num ber of companions earlier in the day that he would kill himself, but owing to his nervous condition nothing was thought of his threat until the explo sion was heard. Neighbors hurried to the scene and found bits of human flesh scattered a hundred feet away with broken furniture, pieces of weather boarding and torn bedding. Lectak was familiar with the use of dynamite, having been employed at various times where it was used, be fore going to work at the brick yard. It is believed he secured the explosive from coal miners, and had fully made up his mind to die when he secured it. Not wanting to injure anyone but himself he waited until every one had left the house before lighting the fuse. BAT RUINS GIRL'S HAIR. She Gets the Worst of a Fight with "Winged Rodents" in Attic. San Rafael, Cal. —This city is suf fering from an invasion of bats, and, despite the strenuous efforts of citizens, the winged pests have gaihed a strong foothold in various parts of the town. Because of their activity Miss Lillian Steadman, a pretty young housemaid employed at the Hotel Rafael, is mourning the loss of her golden tresses, and incidentally suf fering from a shock to her nervous system. Miss Steadman climbed to the attic in the hotel determined to drive out some of the bats. She was surrounded soon by a drove of the winged rodents, and proceeded gamely to give battle to them. One of the bats lodged in the young woman's hair and refused to budge. Miss Steadman, thoroughly frightened, ran screaming from the attic, and the bat still clung to her, keeping busy with his saw-like wings till he had succeeded in cutting her beautiful tresses so badly that it was necessary to shear them off, much to the sorrow of the girl and her admirers. OLD EGGS FOR DOG CATCHER. Storm of Decayed Hen Fruit Makes Man Quit the Job. Day City, Mich.—Robbed, beaten, thrown from his wagon, "rotten egged," mobbed by men and women, upset into ditches, forced into col lisions with street cars, choked, held up with shotguns, gagged, sued, ar rested and fined, Lemoine B. Trues dale, a grizzled old veteran of stage coach days, has thrown down his three months' job as city dog catcher. In that short experience he has un dergone more punishment than most men can stand. Truesdale took the job at 50 cents per unlicensed dog caught by him. While dog owners were loud in their demands for pro tection for their dogs through enforce ment of the dog ordinance, the mo ment Truesdale began work he was mobbed by about 200 men, women and youngsters. The police rescued him, somewhat dilapidated. That was the first of four mobbings, one time about 500 people in the Polish end of the city taking part. Chinese Educational Movement. The growth of the educational move ment has been so rapid throughout the Chinese empire that the demand for instructors has far exceeded the supply of competent men available for the position, with the result that in the province of Shengking, while there are undoubtedly a number of ex cellent men engaged in school work, the majority are remarkable for their energy rather than their erudition.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers